Display control device and display control method

ABSTRACT

There is provided a display control device including a user information acquisition unit configured to acquire information on presence of one or more users who are using same content as output content, a user position decision unit configured to decide display positions of the presence of the users with the information on the presence of the users acquired by the user information acquisition unit, and a display control unit configured to exert control to display the information on the presence of the users on the basis of the display positions decided by the user position decision unit in a manner that the users appear to be using the content together.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/507,427, filed Jul. 10, 2019, which is acontinuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/890,211,filed Nov. 10, 2015, which is a national stage entry ofPCT/JP2014/062953, filed May 15, 2014, and claims the benefit ofpriority from Japanese Patent Application No. JP 2013-114008, filed May30, 2013 which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entiretyfor all purposes.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a display control device, a displaycontrol method, and a computer program.

BACKGROUND ART

There is a technique that displays comments posted by users who arereproducing the same content (content refers to images, videos, or acombination of images or videos with sounds) in different places on adisplay screen of the content to allow for communication between theusers. This kind of technique does not allow users to know, on thescreen, the presence of users who have not posted any comments, failingto show the scale of the whole audience to users who are tryinglistening to the content.

For example, Patent Literatures 1 and 2 then disclose techniques ofdisplaying, as the presence of users who are concurrently watching andlistening to content, characters called avatars serving as the usersthemselves and face images to show the scale of the whole audience tothe users who are trying listening to the content.

CITATION LIST Patent Literature

Patent Literature 1: JP 2009-211528A

Patent Literature 2: JP 2008-257709A

SUMMARY OF INVENTION Technical Problem

Although each of the techniques can show the scale of the whole audienceto users who are trying listening to content, the users feel ittroublesome in the first place to enter comments to communicate witheach other. Text concurrently displayed with content makes the displayedcontent smaller in size, while text superimposed on content makes thecontent difficult to watch. When a user would like to watch and listento content concurrently with a friend while communicating with thefriend closely, the user does not know whether or not the other user islooking at the screen, or whether or not the other user can reply soon.Accordingly, the user fails to smoothly communicate with the other user.

The present disclosure then provides a novel and improved displaycontrol device, display control method, and computer program that canallow users who are concurrently watching and listening to content toknow the scale of the users with ease and allow the users to smoothlycommunicate with the other users with ease.

Solution to Problem

According to the present disclosure, there is provided a display controldevice including: a user information acquisition unit configured toacquire information on presence of one or more users who are using samecontent as output content; a user position decision unit configured todecide display positions of the presence of the users with theinformation on the presence of the users acquired by the userinformation acquisition unit; and a display control unit configured toexert control to display the information on the presence of the users onthe basis of the display positions decided by the user position decisionunit in a manner that the users appear to be using the content together.

In addition, according to the present disclosure, there is provided adisplay control method including: acquiring information on presence ofone or more users who are using same content as output content; decidingdisplay positions of the presence of the users with the acquiredinformation on the presence of the users; and exerting control on thebasis of decided display positions to display the information on thepresence of the users in a manner that the users appear to be using thecontent together.

Furthermore, according to the present disclosure, there is provided acomputer program for causing a computer to execute: acquiringinformation on presence of one or more users who are using same contentas output content; deciding display positions of the presence of theusers with the acquired information on the presence of the users; andexerting control on the basis of decided display positions to displaythe information on the presence of the users in a manner that the usersappear to be using the content together.

Advantageous Effects of Invention

According to the present disclosure as described above, it is possibleto provide a novel and improved display control device, display controlmethod, and computer program that can allow users who are concurrentlywatching and listening to content to know the scale of the users withease and allow the users to smoothly communicate with the other userswith ease.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a configuration example ofa content distribution system 1 according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a configuration example ofa display system 100 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example in which acontent display device 300 and a user information output device 400according to an embodiment of the present disclosure display content anduser information.

FIG. 4A is an explanatory diagram illustrating a functionalconfiguration example of a user information management server 11according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4B is an explanatory diagram illustrating a functionalconfiguration example of a display control device 200 according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an operation example ofthe content distribution system 1 according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of videodistribution setting set in the user information management server 11.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating that the user informationmanagement server 11 distributes a video shot by a display system 100 a.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating that the user informationmanagement server 11 distributes a video shot by a display system 100 b.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating that the user informationmanagement server 11 distributes a video shot by a display system 100 c.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example in which thecontent display device 300 and the user information output device 400according to an embodiment of the present disclosure display content anduser information.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example in which thecontent display device 300 and the user information output device 400according to an embodiment of the present disclosure display content anduser information.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example in whichcontent is watched and listened to with a head mounted display.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a display example of ahead mounted display 500.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a display example of thehead mounted display 500.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a hardware configurationexample of the display control device 200.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENT(S)

Hereinafter, (a) preferred embodiment(s) of the present disclosure willbe described in detail with reference to the appended drawings. In thisspecification and the drawings, elements that have substantially thesame function and structure are denoted with the same reference signs,and repeated explanation is omitted.

The description will be now made in the following order.

-   <1. Embodiment of the Present Disclosure>-   [Configuration Example of Content Distribution System]-   [Configuration Example of Display System]-   [Functional Configuration Example of User Information Management    Server]-   [Functional Configuration Example of Display Control Device]-   [Operation Example of Content Distribution System]-   <2. Hardware Configuration Example>-   <3. Conclusion>

1. Embodiment of the Present Disclosure Configuration Example of ContentDistribution System

First of all, a configuration example of a system according to anembodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference tothe drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating aconfiguration example of a content distribution system 1 according to anembodiment of the present disclosure. A configuration example of thecontent distribution system 1 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure will be described below with reference to FIG. 1.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the content distribution system 1 according toan embodiment of the present disclosure includes a content server 10, auser information management server 11, and display systems 100 a, 100 band 100 c. The content server 10, the user information management server11, and the display systems 100 a, 100 b and 100 c are connected to theInternet and another network 2.

The content distribution system 1 according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure distributes the same content (such as images, videos,and a combination of images or videos with sounds) distributed by thecontent server 10 to the display systems 100 a, 100 b, and 100 c. Inaddition, the user information management server 11 receives the statesof the respective users who are using content, the states beingtransmitted from the display systems 100 a, 100 b and 100 c, and outputsthe received states to the display systems 100 a, 100 b and 100 c in thecontent distribution system 1 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. The state of each user may include, for example, theappearance of each user, a silhouette or an avatar generated from theappearance of each user, and the voice of each user. The use of contentrefers to each user's watching content to be distributed. The use ofcontent also means that each user waits for content to start even if thecontent has not yet been distributed in practice. The use of contentincludes a situation in which users exchange their opinions on contenteven after the distribution of the content ends. When there is no needto distinguish the display systems 100 a, 100 b, and 100 c from eachother, they will be simply represented as the display system 100 in thefollowing description.

The content server 10 retains content to be distributed to the displaysystem 100 a, 100 b and 100 c, and outputs the retained content to thenetwork 2. For example, the content server 10 may begin to output theretained content at the predefined time. The display system 100 canaccess the content output by the content server 10 at that time, therebyreproducing the content output by the content server 10. It will bedescribed in the present embodiment that content is distributed from thecontent server 10 to the display systems 100 a, 100 b and 100 c via thenetwork 2, but the present disclosure is not limited to such an example.For example, content may also be distributed to the display systems 100a, 100 b and 100 c via broadcast waves.

The content server 10 may retain and distribute various genres ofcontent to the display systems 100 a, 100 b and 100 c. Examples ofgenres of content retained and distributed to the display systems 100 a,100 b and 100 c by the content server 10 may include sports, movies,concerts, quizzes, dramas, variety shows, games, still images and movingimages shot by users themselves, and other private content.

The user information management server 11 is a device that managesinformation on users of the display systems 100 a, 100 b and 100 c whouses the content distribution system 1. The user information managementserver 11 outputs information sent from each of the display systems 100a, 100 b and 100 c to the display systems 100 a, 100 b and 100 c on thebasis of retained user information.

The display system 100 acquires content output by the content server 10from the network 2 and displays the acquired content, or acquiresinformation transmitted from the user information management server 11and displays the acquired information. Although a configuration exampleof the display system 100 will be described below in detail, the displaysystem 100, in simple terms, includes a content display device thatdisplays content output by the content server 10 and a user informationoutput device that outputs information transmitted from the userinformation management server 11.

A configuration example of the content distribution system 1 accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure has been described so farwith reference to FIG. 1. Next, a configuration example of the displaysystem 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will bedescribed.

Configuration Example of Display System

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a configuration example ofa display system 100 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. A configuration example of the display system 100 accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described below withreference to FIG. 2.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the display system 100 according to anembodiment of the present disclosure includes a display control device200, a content display device 300, and a user information output device400.

The display control device 200 controls the content display device 300displaying content and the user information output device 400 displayinguser information. The display control device 200 acquires content outputby the content server 10 from the network 2, and outputs the acquiredcontent to the content display device 300. In addition, the displaycontrol device 200 acquires user information output by the userinformation management server 11 from the network 2, and outputs theacquired user information to the user information output device 400.

The content display device 300 displays content output by the contentserver 10, and includes a liquid crystal display device, an organic ELdisplay device, or another display device. The content display device300 acquires content output by the content server 10 from the displaycontrol device 200, and displays the acquired content on the basis ofcontrol exerted by the display control device 200.

The user information output device 400 acquires and outputs informationtransmitted from the user information management server 11, and includesa device such as a projector that irradiates, for example, a wall with avideo. The user information output device 400 acquires informationtransmitted from the user information management server 11 from thedisplay control device 200, and outputs the acquired information on thebasis of control exerted by the display control device 200.

Examples of information output by the user information output device 400may include the appearance of another user, a silhouette, a facepicture, an avatar and other video information, voice and other audioinformation, and a comment entered by another user and other textinformation. The user information output device 400 outputs such a kindof information on the basis of control exerted by the display controldevice 200.

The user information output device 400 may also include a camera forshooting a video of the appearance of a user who is trying listening tocontent displayed by the content display device 300, and a microphonefor collecting the voice of the user. In addition, the user informationoutput device 400 may also include a speaker for outputting contentdisplayed by the content display device 300 and a sound uttered byanother user. Additionally, these camera, microphone, and speaker may beprovided independently from the content display device 300 and the userinformation output device 400. Let us assume below that the userinformation output device 400 includes a camera for shooting a video ofthe appearance of a user, a speaker for outputting content displayed bythe content display device 300 and a sound uttered by another user, anda microphone for collecting the voice of the user.

The user information output device 400 may also include an infraredsensor device, an ultrasonic sensor device, or another distancemeasuring sensor for acquiring distance information on the distance to auser trying listening to content displayed by the content display device300. Once the user information output device 400 acquires distanceinformation on the distance to a user, the user information outputdevice 400 may transmit the distance information to the user informationmanagement server 11 via the network 2.

The display system 100 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure may also include a global positioning system (GPS) sensor oranother position sensor for acquiring the present position. The positionsensor only has to be provided in any of the display control device 200,the content display device 300 and the user information output device400, and the display system 100 may transmit information on the presentposition acquired by the position sensor to the user informationmanagement server 11 via the network 2.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an installation example ofthe user information output device 400. The user information outputdevice 400 may also be provided on the ceiling of a room or at aposition at which the user information output device 400 faces a user asillustrated in FIG. 3 in order to irradiate a wall with a video or shoota video of the appearance of the user. A camera provided on the userinformation output device 400 may be provided at a position that allowsthe camera to shoot at least a video of the upper body of a user whilethe user is using (watching) content displayed by the content displaydevice 300. As long as a video of the upper body of a user can be shot,it is possible, for example, with the skeleton estimation technology toestimate the posture of the user. Accordingly, for example, the userinformation management server 11 can acquire information on the postureof the user by using that skeleton estimation technology. Furthermore,for example, the user information management server 11 can convert evena shot video showing the front of the user as illustrated in FIG. 3 to avideo showing a side of the user.

The display control device 200 can show the scale of users who areconcurrently using (watching) content to a user of the display system100 with ease by controlling the content display device 300 displayingcontent and the user information output device 400 outputtinginformation. In addition, the display control device 200 exerts suchcontrol, thereby allowing a user of the display system 100 to smoothlycommunicate with another user with ease.

The following describes an example in which the content display device300 and the user information output device 400 display content and userinformation. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example inwhich a content display device 300 and a user information output device400 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure display contentand user information.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, a user U1 sits in a room watching andlistening to content displayed by the content display device 300. Theuser information output device 400 projects appearances D1 and D2 ofother users onto walls of the room where the user 1 is as illustrated inFIG. 3. If the user information output device 400 projects theappearances D1 and D2 of the other users in this way, the display system100 can present information on the other users to the user U1 withoutpreventing the user U1 from watching and listening to content displayedby the content display device 300.

The appearances D1 and D2 of the other users projected by the userinformation output device 400 may include videos of the actualappearances of the other users shot by the display systems 100 used bythe other users, or silhouettes made from the appearances. In addition,the user information output device 400 may project, as the appearancesD1 and D2 of the other users, images of characters called avatarsconverted from videos of the appearances of the other users shot by thedisplay systems 100 used by the other users. The display manner anddisplay positions of the appearances D1 and D2 of the other usersprojected by the user information output device 400 for the respectiveusers change in accordance with control exerted by the display controldevice 200. Some parts of the appearances of the other users aredisplayed as shot videos, and the other parts are displayed assilhouettes in accordance with control exerted by the display controldevice 200 in the example illustrated in FIG. 3.

The appearances of the other users may be converted to silhouettes, oravatar information on the other users may be acquired by the userinformation management server 11. The user information management server11 may also convert a video of a user transmitted from the displaysystem 100 to a silhouette, or acquire an avatar of a user on the basisof the retained user information.

The user information output device 400 may output sounds uttered by theother users in addition to the appearances D1 and D2 of the other users.The user information output device 400 may also output text generatedfrom the sounds uttered by the other users. The user information outputdevice 400 outputs text “GREAT SAVE!!” and “ALMOST!” generated fromsounds uttered by the other users in balloons in the example illustratedin FIG. 3.

The display control device 200 may change the projection positions ofthe appearances D1 and D2 of the other users and the display positionsof the respective users in accordance with information managed by theuser information management server 11 and the details of content outputby the content display device 300. A specific example of display controlexerted by the display control device 200 on the appearances D1 and D2of the other users will be described below in detail.

The user information output device 400 may display the appearances ofthe other users as illustrated in FIG. 3 before the content displaydevice 300 displays content. The user information output device 400 canshow that users have been excited even before the content display device300 displays content, by displaying the appearances of the other usersbefore the content display device 300 displays the content.

The user information output device 400 may continue to display theappearances of the other users as illustrated in FIG. 3 even after thecontent display device 300 finishes displaying content. The userinformation output device 400 can show that users have been excited evenafter the content display device 300 finishes displaying content, bycontinuing to display the appearances of the other users after thecontent display device 300 finishes displaying the content.

If a user of the display system 100 enjoys game content with anotheruser, the display control device 200 illustrated in FIG. 2 may beconfigured to output the game content to the content display device 300.If a user of the display system 100 enjoys game content with anotheruser, the display system 100 may include a controller for operating thegame, which is not, however, illustrated in FIG. 2.

A configuration example of the display system 100 according to anembodiment of the present disclosure has been described so far withreference to FIG. 2. Next, a functional configuration example of theuser information management server 11 according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure will be described.

Functional Configuration Example of User Information Management Server

FIG. 4A is an explanatory diagram illustrating a functionalconfiguration example of the user information management server 11according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Next, a functionalconfiguration example of the user information management server 11according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be describedwith reference to FIG. 4A.

As illustrated in FIG. 4A, the user information management server 11according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a videoacquisition unit 21, a video processing unit 22, an informationdistribution unit 23, and a setting retention unit 24.

The video acquisition unit 21 acquires a video shot by the userinformation output device 400 included in the display system 100. Thevideo shot by the display system 100 may include the appearance of auser who uses the display system 100. The video acquired by the videoacquisition unit 21 is subjected to video processing by the videoprocessing unit 22.

The video processing unit 22 executes video processing on the videoacquired by the video acquisition unit 21. The video processing executedby the video processing unit 22 may include, for example, deleting thebackground from a video, extracting a person from a video, convertingthe extracted person to a silhouette, and reflecting the movement of theextracted person on an avatar. The video processing unit 22 executesvideo processing on the video acquired by the video acquisition unit 21on the basis of the content of the setting retained by the settingretention unit 24. Additionally, the video processing unit 22 may alsoexecute processing on a sound that may be included in the video inaddition to the processing on the video. For example, the videoprocessing unit 22 may also execute processing of converting a soundincluded in the video into text data on the basis of the content of thesetting retained by the setting retention unit 24 discussed below.

The information distribution unit 23 distributes the video transmittedform the display system 100 and subjected to video processing by thevideo processing unit 22 to another display system 100. The informationdistribution unit 23 distributes the video transmitted from the displaysystem 100 to another display system 100 on the basis of the content ofthe setting retained by the setting retention unit 24.

The setting retention unit 24 retains, for example, the content of thevideo processing on the video shot by the display system 100, thecontent of the setting for a destination to which the video isdistributed, and the setting for information on each user who is usingthe display system 100. As discussed above, the video processing unit 22and the information distribution unit 23 operates on the basis of thecontent of the setting retained by the setting retention unit 24.Additionally, although the setting retention unit 24 is provided in theuser information management server 11 in the example illustrated in FIG.4A, the present disclosure is not limited to such an example.

A functional configuration example of the user information managementserver 11 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure has beendescribed so far with reference to FIG. 4A. Next, a functionalconfiguration example of the display control device 200 according to anembodiment of the present disclosure will be described.

Functional Configuration Example of Display Control Device

FIG. 4B is an explanatory diagram illustrating a functionalconfiguration example of the display control device 200 according to anembodiment of the present disclosure. The following describes afunctional configuration example of the display control device 200according to an embodiment of the present disclosure with reference toFIG. 4B.

As illustrated in FIG. 4B, the display control device 200 according toan embodiment of the present disclosure includes a content acquisitionunit 210, a user information acquisition unit 220, a user positiondecision unit 230, and a display control unit 240.

The content acquisition unit 210 acquires content output by the contentserver 10. The content acquired by the content acquisition unit 210 issent to the content display device 300 by the display control unit 240,and the display control unit 240 controls the content display device 300displaying the acquired content.

The user information acquisition unit 220 acquires informationtransmitted from the user information management server 11. Theinformation acquired by the user information acquisition unit 220 issent to the user information output device 400 by the display controlunit 240. The display control unit 240 then controls the userinformation output device 400 outputting the information acquired by theuser information acquisition unit 220.

The user position decision unit 230 decides the position of theappearance of a user output from the user information output device 400when the information acquired by the user information acquisition unit220 is output from the user information output device 400. The userposition decision unit 230 may use a variety of indexes for deciding theposition of the appearance of a user output from the user informationoutput device 400. For example, the user position decision unit 230 maydecide the position on the basis of information on a user of the displaycontrol device 200 and another user managed by the user informationmanagement server 11. Meanwhile, for example, the user position decisionunit 230 may decide the position in accordance with the details ofcontent output by the content server 10. For example, if the contentserver 10 outputs baseball content, the user position decision unit 230may decide the display positions of the appearances of users in a mannerthat a user who is rooting for the same team as a team that a user ofthe display control device 200 is rooting for is displayed on the samewall and a user who is rooting for the opponent team is displayed on theopposite wall. Meanwhile, for example, if the content server 10 outputscontent of an online game that falls into a role playing game, the userposition decision unit 230 may decide the display positions of theappearances of users in a manner that users who are using charactershaving the same job are centralized on one of the walls.

Specific examples of indexes used by the user position decision unit 230will be described. If a user who is using the display system 100 setsthe appearance of a user registered in advance in the user informationmanagement server 11 in a manner that the registered appearance isdisplayed near the user who is using the display system 100, the userposition decision unit 230 may make a decision in a manner that thedisplay position of the registered appearance of the user is locatednear the user who is using the display system 100 on the basis of thesetting. The position of a user in a room may be acquired, for example,from a resulting video of the user shot by the user information outputdevice 400 or acquired by a sensor or the like that measures thedistance to an object. The user position decision unit 230 may decidethe position of another user on the basis of information on the positionof the user acquired in this way.

If the user position decision unit 230 can use information on usercommunication services such as social networking services (SNSs), socialmedia, and social networking sites, the user position decision unit 230may make a decision in a manner that the display position of theappearance of a user who has deep intimacy as estimated from a socialgraph of the SNS is located near a user who is using the display system100.

Meanwhile, if the content server 10 outputs content of sports broadcast,the user position decision unit 230 may make a decision in a manner thatthe display position of the appearance of a user who is rooting for thesame team as a team that a user who is using the display system 100 isrooting for is located near the user who is using the display system100.

If the content server 10 outputs content of sports broadcast, the userposition decision unit 230 may display the appearances of users in amanner that the display position of the appearance of a user who isrooting for the same team as a team that a user who is using the displaysystem 100 is rooting for is located on the right side as viewed fromthe user who is using the display system 100 and the display position ofthe appearance of a user who is rooting for the opponent team is locatedon the left side as viewed from the user who is using the display system100.

If the content server 10 outputs content of a quiz program, the userposition decision unit 230 may display the appearances of users in amanner that the display position of the appearance of a user who getsthe same answer as an answer of a user who is using the display system100 is located on the right side as viewed from the user who is usingthe display system 100 and the display position of the appearance of auser who gets a different answer is located on the left side as viewedfrom the user who is using the display system 100.

The user position decision unit 230 may change the display position ofthe appearance of another user in accordance with the posture of theuser. For example, when there are a user sitting on the floor, a usersitting on a chair, and a standing user, the user position decision unit230 may display the appearance of the user sitting on the floor at thefront, the appearance of the user sitting on a chair in the middle, andthe appearance of the standing user at the back.

The user position decision unit 230 may change the display position ofthe appearance of another user in accordance with the height of theuser. The user information management server 11 estimates the height ofa user who is using the display system 100 from the appearance of theuser, whose video has been shot by the user information output device400. The user information management server 11 may then put togetherinformation on the heights of users who are watching and listening tothe same content and provide the information to the respective displaysystems 100. For example, the user position decision unit 230 maydisplay the appearances of the users in order of increasing height.

The user position decision unit 230 may change the display position ofthe appearance of another user in accordance with the actual distance tothe other user. As discussed above, the display system 100 may include aposition sensor that acquires the present position. The display system100 includes a position sensor, so that position information on a userof the display system 100 and position information on another user aregathered in the user information management server 11. Thus, if thedisplay control device 200 acquires position information on other usersfrom the user information management server 11, it is possible to changethe display positions of the appearances of the users in accordance withthe actual distances to the other users. For example, the user positiondecision unit 230 may display the appearances of other users in order ofincreasing actual distance to the users.

In addition, the user position decision unit 230 may also change thedisplay position of the appearance of another user in accordance withthe distance between the content display device 300 of the displaysystem 100 used by the user and the user. The user information outputdevice 400 may also include an infrared sensor device, an ultrasonicsensor device, or another distance measuring sensor for acquiringdistance information on the distance to a user trying listening tocontent displayed by the content display device 300. Thus, the userinformation output device 400 includes a distance measuring sensordevice, so that information on the distances between the content displaydevices 300 and users is gathered in the user information managementserver 11. For example, the user position decision unit 230 may displaythe appearances of other users in order of increasing distance betweenthe content display devices 300 of the display systems 100 used by theusers and the users.

The display control unit 240 controls the content display device 300displaying content acquired by the content acquisition unit 210. Inaddition, the display control unit 240 controls the user informationoutput device 400 outputting information acquired by the userinformation acquisition unit 220. The display control unit 240 exertscontrol in a manner that the user information output device 400 outputsinformation on the position of each user decided by the user positiondecision unit 230 as the information acquired by the user informationacquisition unit 220.

When displaying the information acquired by the user informationacquisition unit 220, the display control unit 240 may change what is tobe displayed in accordance with the state of another user. For example,the display control unit 240 may stop the user information output device400 from outputting the appearance of another user or cause the userinformation output device 400 to output only the outline of the user inthe absence of the user. Additionally, the absence of another user maybe determined, for example, from the user stepping out from the videoshooting range of the user information output device 400, or the otheruser telling that the user is going to be unavailable through amicrophone provided on the user information output device 400.

If another user who has been sat for a long time stands up, the displaycontrol unit 240 may determine that the user leaves his or her seat andstop the user information output device 400 from outputting theappearance of the user or cause the user information output device 400to output only the outline of the user.

In addition, the display control unit 240 may change what is displayedfor another user in accordance with a sign shown by the user. Forexample, the display control unit 240 may stop the user informationoutput device 400 from outputting the appearance of another user orcause the user information output device 400 to output only the outlineof the user when the user explicitly shows a sign indicating that theuser leaves a seat.

Furthermore, the display control unit 240 may display a user whoactively leaves messages and a user who does not in different manners.For example, the display control unit 240 may display users who activelyleave messages near a user of the display control device 200 orcentralize and display them on one of the walls, while displaying userswho have been leaving only a certain threshold amount of messages orless within a predetermined time, or who have been leaving no messagesfor a predetermined time far from the user of the display control device200 or displaying them on the opposite wall to the wall on which theusers who actively leave messages are displayed.

The display control unit 240 may change information on a user output bythe user information output device 400 in accordance with a change inthe situation in content output by the content server 10. For example,when the content server 10 outputs baseball content and the userposition decision unit 230 decides the display positions in a mannerthat users who are rooting for the same team as a team that a user ofthe display control device 200 is rooting for are displayed on the samewall, the display control unit 240 may display the users who are rootingfor the same team as a team that the user of the display control device200 is rooting for with such an effect that makes the users look excitedabout the team that the users are rooting for getting ahead. To thecontrary, when the team that the users are rooting for gets behind, thedisplay control unit 240 may display the users who are rooting for thesame team as a team that the user of the display control device 200 isrooting for with such an effect that makes the users look down or mayreduce the sizes of the users.

Meanwhile, for example, when the content server 10 outputs content of aquiz program, the user information output device 400 may display a userwho gets the right answer of a quiz with such an effect that makes theuser look excited under the control of the display control unit 240.Meanwhile, for example, when the content server 10 outputs content of aquiz program as mentioned above, the user information output device 400may display a user who gets an incorrect answer of a quiz by making theuser look down or reducing the size of the appearance of the user underthe control of the display control unit 240.

Furthermore, for example, when the content server 10 outputs content ofan online game, the user information output device 400 may outputinformation on a user changed in accordance with the situation in theonline game. When the online game is a roll playing game, the userinformation output device 400 may centralize and display users who are,for example, using characters having the same job on one of the wallsunder the control of the user position decision unit 230. When theonline game is a roll playing game, the user information output device400 may also reduce the sizes of the users whose characters are, forexample, run out of health points under the control of the displaycontrol unit 240.

The display control device 200 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure is configured as illustrated in FIG. 4B, and can hereby showa user of the display system 100 with ease the scale of users who areconcurrently watching and listening to content. In addition, the displaycontrol device 200 according to an embodiment of the present disclosureis configured as illustrated in FIG. 4B, thereby allowing users of thedisplay systems 100 to smoothly communicate with other users with ease.

Additionally, the display control exerted by the display control unit240 may be exerted by the user information management server 11. If theuser information management server 11 exerts the display control andthen transmits user information to the display system 100, the displaycontrol unit 240 can exert control in a manner that the processed userinformation sent from the user information management server 11 isoutput from the user information output device 400.

When the user information management server 11 exerts display control,the display control unit 240 may gather information transmitted from theplurality of display systems 100 and subject the information to videoprocessing in the video processing unit 22 to transmit the informationon users subjected to the video processing for each display system 100.

A functional configuration example of the display control device 200according to an embodiment of the present disclosure has been describedso far. Next, an operation example of the content distribution system 1according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described.

Operation Example of Content Distribution System

As discussed above, the content distribution system 1 according to anembodiment of the present disclosure outputs content from the contentserver 10 to the display system 100, and outputs a video and sound of auser sent from the display system 100 from the user informationmanagement server 11 to another display system 100.

It may be decided in what manner the display system 100 outputs a videoand sound of a user, on the basis of information retained by the userinformation management server 11. The following describes an operationexample in which it is decided in what manner the display system 100outputs a video and sound of a user.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an operation example ofthe content distribution system 1 according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure. An operation example of the content distributionsystem 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will bedescribed below with reference to FIG. 5.

Each display system 100 shoots a video of the appearance of a user whois using the display system 100 with a camera provided on the userinformation output device 400 (step S101), and transmits the video tothe user information management server 11 via the network 2. This videomay include a sound uttered by the user. The user information managementserver 11 receives the video transmitted from each display system 100,and then deletes the background from the received video and extractsonly a person (step S102).

The content distribution system 1 according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure goes on to decide how the video shot by any one ofthe display systems 100 is output by another display system 100, on thebasis of information managed in the user information management server11. The following describes an example in which the user informationmanagement server 11 decides a manner in which a video is output on thebasis of information managed in the user information management server11 and distributes the video to each display system 100. The displaysystem 100 may naturally execute the following processing instead of theuser information management server 11, or the user informationmanagement server 11 may divide the processing with the display system100.

The user information management server 11 determines whether or not avideo shot by any one of the display systems 100 is set to be output byanother display system 100 without any processing (step S103). If thevideo is set to be output without any processing, the user informationmanagement server 11 corrects video distortion attributed to a shootingposition in the video shot by the one of the display systems 100 (stepS104).

The appearance of another user is output from the user informationoutput device 400, for example, as illustrated in FIG. 3. Thus, if theappearance of a person is extracted from a video shot by any one of thedisplay systems 100 and then output by another display system 100without any processing, the appearance of the other user does not lookat the content display device 300 in some cases. Accordingly, the userinformation management server 11 corrects the video on the basis of theposition of the content display device 300 and the position of the otheruser to be output, making the appearance of the other user look at thecontent display device 300. The information on the position of thecontent display device 300 may be acquired, for example, by a camera ora distance measuring sensor of the user information output device 400,and transmitted to the user information management server 11.Alternatively, the information on the position of the content displaydevice 300 may be registered by a user, and transmitted to the userinformation management server 11.

To the contrary, if the video is not set to be output without anyprocessing, the user information management server 11 goes on todetermine whether or not the video shot by the one of the displaysystems 100 is set to be converted to a silhouette and the silhouettevideo is set to be output from another display system 100 (step S105).If the silhouette video is set to be output as the video shot by the oneof the display systems 100, the user information management server 11extracts only a silhouette of a person from the video shot by the one ofthe display systems 100 (step S106). After extracting a silhouette, theuser information management server 11 corrects the video distortionattributed to the shooting position as discussed above (step S104).

Some position of a user may disable a camera provided in the userinformation output device 400 from encompassing the entire body of theuser in a shot video of the appearance of the user. In such a case, theuser information management server 11 may execute video processing inthe video processing unit 22 to compensate for a part of the body whichdoes not appear in the video.

If a result of the determination in step S105 shows that the silhouettevideo is not set to be output, the user information management server 11goes on to determine whether or not the appearance of a person appearingin the video shot by the one of the display systems 100 is set to bechanged into an avatar and output by another display system 100 (stepS107). If the appearance is set to be changed into an avatar and output,the user information management server 11 reflects the movement of theperson appearing in the video shot by the one of the display systems 100on the movement of the avatar (step S108).

It will be described that the appearance of a user whose video is shotby the display system 100 a is changed into an avatar and output to thedisplay system 100 b by the user information management server 11. If auser whose video is shot by the display system 100 a raises his or herright hand, the user information management server 11 makes such anoutput to the display system 100 that causes a character displayed asthe avatar to raise its right hand. Meanwhile, if a user whose video isshot by the display system 100 a smiles, the user information managementserver 11 causes a character displayed as the avatar to smile andoutputs the character to the display system 100 b.

If a result of the determination in step S107 shows that the appearanceis not set to be changed into an avatar and output, the user informationmanagement server 11 goes on to determine whether or not the appearanceof a person appearing in a video shot by the one of the display systems100 is set to be changed into an abstract expression and output (stepS109). Examples of the abstract expression may include simplification ofthe appearance of a person. The appearance of a person may be expressed,for example, as not the appearance of the person, but a figure.

The user information management server 11 goes on to determine whetheror not a sound included in a video shot by any one of the displaysystems 100 is set to be output by another display system 100 withoutany processing (step S110). If the sound included in the video is set tobe output without any processing, the user information management server11 outputs the sound included in the video shot by the one of thedisplay systems 100 to another display system 100 without any processingin accordance with the video output setting (step S111).

If the sound is not set to be output without any processing, the userinformation management server 11 goes on to determine whether or not thesound included in the video shot by the one of the display systems 100is set to be converted into text and output by another display system100 (step S112). If the sound included in the video is set to beconverted into text and output, the user information management server11 converts the sound included in the video shot by the one of thedisplay systems 100 into text (step S113). The sound may be convertedinto text, for example, by the video processing unit 22. The userinformation management server 11 then outputs the text converted fromthe sound included in the video to another display system 100 inaccordance with the video output setting (step 111).

If the sound included in the video is not set to be converted into textand output, the user information management server 11 changes the soundincluded in the video shot by the one of the display systems 100 into anabstract expression and outputs the abstract expression to anotherdisplay system 100 (step S114). Examples of the abstract expression mayinclude a symbol or a figure that has nothing to do with the sound. Thedisplay system 100 then outputs the abstract expression converted fromthe sound in accordance with the video output setting (step S111).

The video processing and the audio processing may be executed by not theuser information management server 11, but the display control device200. When the display control device 200 executes the video processingand the audio processing, the display control device 200 refers to thesetting retained by the user information management server 11 and exertscontrol to display the appearance and a sound of another user.

A specific example of the processing will be described along with asetting example of the user information management server 11. Thefollowing describes an example in which the content distribution system1 includes at least three display systems 100 a, 100 b and 100 c asillustrated in FIG. 1, and the video distribution setting of therespective display systems 100 a, 100 b and 100 c is set in the userinformation management server 11. A user who is using the display system100 a, a user who is using the display system 100 b, and a user who isusing the display system 100 c will be respectively referred to as userA, user B, and user C below.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of videodistribution setting set in the user information management server 11.The user information management server 11 may store the setting exampleillustrated in FIG. 6 in a form of a list, database, or the like. Theuser A makes the appearance of the user A open to the user B and theuser C in the distribution setting illustrated in FIG. 6. The user Asets, open to the user B, the appearance whose video has been shot by acamera and a sound recorded by a microphone. Meanwhile, the user A sets,open to the user C, a silhouette converted from the video of theappearance shot by a camera and text converted from the sound recordedby a microphone. The user B then sets the appearance of the user B opento only the user A, and a silhouette converted from a video of theappearance shot by a camera and a sound recorded by a microphone are setopen. Meanwhile, the user C sets, open to all users including the usersA and B, an avatar converted from a video of the appearance shot by acamera and text converted from a sound recorded by a microphone.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating that the user informationmanagement server 11 distributes a video shot by the display system 100a. The display system 100 a sends a video shot by a camera and a soundrecorded by a microphone to the user information management server 11.The user information management server 11 extracts only the appearanceof the user A from the video transmitted from the display system 100 a,and then converts the appearance of the user A appearing in the videotransmitted from the display system 100 a into a silhouette video andconverts the voice of the user A into text. The user informationmanagement server 11 outputs the video having the appearance of the userA and the sound of the user A to the display system 100 b on the basisof the setting as illustrated in FIG. 6, while outputting the silhouettevideo converted from the appearance of the user A and the text convertedfrom the sound of the user A to the display system 100 c.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating that the user informationmanagement server 11 distributes a video shot by the display system 100b. The display system 100 b sends a video shot by a camera and a soundrecorded by a microphone to the user information management server 11.The user information management server 11 extracts only the appearanceof the user B from the video transmitted from the display system 100 b,and then converts the appearance of the user B appearing in the videotransmitted from the display system 100 b into a silhouette video. Theuser information management server 11 outputs the silhouette videoconverted from the appearance of the user B and the sound of the user Bto the display system 100 a on the basis of the setting as illustratedin FIG. 6. The user information management server 11 does not output thevideo transmitted from the display system 100 b to the display system100 c.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating that the user informationmanagement server 11 distributes a video shot by the display system 100c. The display system 100 c sends a video shot by a camera and a soundrecorded by a microphone to the user information management server 11.The user information management server 11 extracts only the appearanceof the user C from the video transmitted from the display system 100 c,and then generates the movement of an avatar from the appearance of theuser C appearing in the video transmitted from the display system 100 band converts the voice of the user C into text. The user informationmanagement server 11 outputs the avatar generated from the appearance ofthe user C and the text converted from the sound of the user C to allthe display systems 100 including the display systems 100 a and 100 b onthe basis of the setting as illustrated in FIG. 6.

In this way, the user information management server 11 converts andoutputs a video from one of the display systems 100 to another displaysystem 100 on the basis of the setting. Registering the privacy settingfor a video and a sound in the user information management server 11, auser who is using the display system 100 can decide a user to whom theappearance and voice of the user who is using the display system 100 areoutput without any processing and a user to whom the convertedappearance and voice of the user who is using the display system 100 areoutput.

FIG. 6 illustrates that the privacy setting is registered for each user,but the user information management server 11 may also allow a user toregister the privacy setting in units of groups. In addition, the userinformation management server 11 may allow a user to register differentkinds of setting as the setting for even the same user in accordancewith the details of content. For example, when the user A registers theprivacy setting regarding baseball for the user B, the user A may setthe appearance and voice of the user A to be output to the user Bwithout any processing because the user B is rooting for the same teamas a team the user A is rooting for. Meanwhile, when the user Aregisters the privacy setting regarding soccer, the user A may set aconverted appearance and voice of the user A to be output or set none ofthe appearance and voice of the user A to be output because the user Bis rooting for the rival team.

The above describes a communication example in which a large number ofpeople are concurrently trying listening to the same content asillustrated in FIG. 3. The following describes a communication examplein which two users are concurrently trying listening to the samecontent.

FIGS. 10 and 11 each are an explanatory diagram illustrating an examplein which the content display device 300 and the user information outputdevice 400 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure displaycontent and user information. The content distribution system 1according to an embodiment of the present disclosure enablescommunication having a sense of presence between two users who arewatching and listening to the same content by retaining a relativepositional relationship between the users.

When a user installs the user information output device 400 on the leftwall of the user as illustrated in FIG. 10, the user information outputdevice 400 installed on the right wall of a partner user as illustratedin FIG. 11 enables communication while retaining a relative positionalrelationship between the users.

A video of a single person is shot by a cameral provided on the userinformation output device 400 in the above example. The contentdistribution system 1 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure can distribute videos of a plurality of people shot by acamera provided on the user information output device 400 or the like toother users, and display the other users in the same way.

When a camera shoots videos of two or more people, the user informationmanagement server 11 may perform image processing of separating thepeople appearing in the videos one by one. For example, when a pluralityof families are concurrently trying listening to the same content, thedisplay control device 200 may exert position control to dispose adultsnear adults and children near children.

When a camera shoots videos of two or more people, the user informationmanagement server 11 may recognize a particular person among the peopleappearing in the videos and refrain from distributing the particularperson to the other users.

The above example describes that the content display device 300 isprovided in a room, but the present disclosure is not limited to such anexample. When the whole of a wall in a room functions as a display, thecontent distribution system 1 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure enables communication having a sense of presence betweenusers in the same way.

The above describes an example in which a user tries listening tocontent displayed on the content display device 300. However, a mannerin which a user has a conversation with another user while watching andlistening to content is not limited to such an example. For example,even when content is watched and listened to with a head mounteddisplay, which is a display device mounted on the head, communicationcan be established with a relative positional relationship retainedbetween users.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example in whichcontent is watched and listened to with a head mounted display. FIG. 12illustrates that two users U2 and U3 each use a head mounted display 500to watch and listen to the same content in distant places. A referencesign D11 represent content that the two users U2 and U3 are concurrentlywatching and listening to, and schematically shows the state of thecontent displayed on the head mounted display 500. The head mounteddisplay 500 illustrated in FIG. 12 acquires and outputs content outputby the content server 10 and user information output by the userinformation management server 11 from the network 2. Additionally, eachhead mounted display 500 has the function of the display control device200 illustrated in FIG. 4B or displays content on the basis of controlexerted by the display control device 200.

When the two users U2 and U3 each use the head mounted display 500 towatch and listen to the same content in distant places in this way, thehead mounted display 500 used by the user U2 acquires and outputs thevoice of the user U3 from the user information management server 11 asif the user U3 sat to the right of the user U2. That is to say, the headmounted display 500 used by the user U2 acquires and outputs the voiceof the user U3 from the user information management server 11 in amanner that the user U2 hears the voice of the user U3 from the rightear.

In the same way, the head mounted display 500 used by the user U3acquires and outputs the voice of the user U2 from the user informationmanagement server 11 as if the user U2 sat to the left of the user U3.That is to say, the head mounted display 500 used by the user U3acquires and outputs the voice of the user U2 from the user informationmanagement server 11 in a manner that the user U3 hears the voice of theuser U2 from the left ear.

The user U2 speaks “WHERE IS THIS VIDEO SHOT?” in the exampleillustrated in FIG. 12, and the speech is then sent to the userinformation management server 11. The head mounted display 500 used bythe user U3 acquires and outputs the voice of the user U2 “WHERE IS THISVIDEO SHOT?” from the user information management server 11 as if theuser U2 sat to the left of the user U3.

The user U 3 speaks “IT LOOKS LIKE HAWAII.” in response to the inquiryfrom the user U2, and the speech is then sent to the user informationmanagement server 11. The head mounted display 500 used by the user U2acquires and outputs the voice of the user U3 “IT LOOKS LIKE HAWAII.”from the user information management server 11 as if the user U3 sat tothe right of the user U2.

The head mounted display 500 acquires and outputs sounds from the userinformation management server 11 in this way to allow both the users toknow a relative positional relationship, so that the head mounteddisplay 500 enables communication while retaining the relativepositional relationship between users.

If the head mounted display 500 includes a sensor such as anacceleration sensor, the head mounted display 500 can display content inaccordance with the movement of the head of a user who wears the headmounted display 500. For example, when a user who wears the head mounteddisplay 500 looks right, the head mounted display 500 may, for example,shifts the display of content in the left direction and the appearanceor an avatar of another user on the remaining space.

FIGS. 13 and 14 each are an explanatory diagram illustrating a displayexample of the head mounted display 500. A reference sign 501 in FIGS.13 and 14 represents an example of a picture seen by the eyes of a userwho wears the head mounted display 500.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of a picture seen by the eyes of a userwho is wearing the head mounted display 500 and looks ahead. Meanwhile,FIG. 14 illustrates an example of a picture seen by the eyes of a userwho is wearing head mounted display 500 and looks left from FIG. 13.

When a user looks left, the head mounted display 500 shifts and displaysa picture that has been displayed so far in the right direction anddisplays information (avatar D12 in the example illustrated in FIG. 14)on another user output by the user information management server 11 onthe remaining space. The head mounted display 500 displays content andinformation on another user in this way, thereby enabling communicationwhile retaining a relative positional relationship between the users.

Needless to say, information to be displayed on the remaining space isnot limited to avatars. This will be described with the exampleillustrated in FIG. 12. For example, when the user U2 speaks “WHERE ISTHIS VIDEO SHOT?,” the user information management server 11 may convertthe speech into text information and the text information may betransmitted to the head mounted display 500 used by the user U3 from theuser information management server 11 in a manner that the textinformation “WHERE IS THIS VIDEO SHOT?” is displayed.

2. Hardware Configuration Example

The above operation of the display control device 200 can be executed,for example, with the hardware configuration of the informationprocessing device illustrated in FIG. 15. That is to say, the hardwareillustrated in FIG. 15 may be controlled with a computer program toexecute the operation of the display control device 200. Additionally,the hardware may be implemented in any manner. Examples of the hardwareinclude a personal computer, a mobile phone, a PHS, a portableinformation terminal such as a PDA, a game console, a contact orcontactless IC chip, a contact or contactless IC card, and a variety ofinformation appliances. Note that the PHS stands for a personalhandy-phone system. Meanwhile, the PDA stands for a personal digitalassistant.

As illustrated in FIG. 15, this hardware chiefly includes a CPU 902, ROM904, RAM 906, a host bus 908, and a bridge 910. This hardware furtherincludes an external bus 912, an interface 914, an input unit 916, anoutput unit 918, a storage unit 920, a drive 922, a connection port 924,and a communication unit 926. Note that the CPU stands for a centralprocessing unit. Meanwhile, the ROM stands for read only memory. The RAMthen stands for random access memory.

The CPU 902 functions, for example, as an operation processing device ora control device, and controls the whole or partial operation of eachstructural element on the basis of a variety of programs recorded in theROM 904, the RAM 906, the storage unit 920, or a removable recordingmedium 928. The ROM 904 is means for storing, for example, a program tobe read by the CPU 902 and data used for operations. The RAM 906temporarily or permanently stores, for example, a program to be read bythe CPU 902 and a variety of parameters that vary as appropriate whenthe program is executed.

These structural elements are connected to each other, for example, viathe host bus 908 capable of high-speed data transmission. Meanwhile, thehost bus 908 is connected, for example, to the external bus 912 havingrelatively low-speed data transmission via the bridge 910. For example,a mouse, a keyboard, a touch panel, a button, a switch, and a lever areused as the input unit 916. Furthermore, a remote controller (which willbe referred to as remote control below) capable of transmitting acontrol signal with an infrared ray or other radio waves is used in somecases as the input unit 916.

Examples of the output unit 918 includes a display device such as a CRT,an LCD, a PDP and an ELD, an audio output device such as a speaker and aheadphone, a device such as a printer, a mobile phone, and a facsimilecapable of visually or aurally notifying a user of acquired information.Note that the CRT stands for a cathode ray tube. The LCD stands for aliquid crystal display. The PDP then stands for a plasma display panel.Furthermore, the ELD stands for an electro-luminescence display.

The storage unit 920 is a device for storing various kinds of data. Forexample, a magnetic storage device such as a hard disk drive (HDD), asemiconductor storage device, an optical storage device, or amagneto-optical storage device is used as the storage unit 920. Notethat the HDD stands for a hard disk drive.

The drive 922 is a device that reads out information recorded in theremovable recording medium 928 such as a magnetic disk, an optical disc,a magneto-optical disk and semiconductor memory, or writes informationinto the removable recording medium 928. Examples of the removablerecording medium 928 include DVD media, Blu-ray media, HD DVD media, anda variety of semiconductor storage media. Needless to say, the removablerecording medium 928 may also be, for example, an IC card or anelectronic device having a contactless IC chip mounted thereon. Notethat the IC stands for an integrated circuit.

Examples of the connection port 924 include a USB port, an IEEE 1394port, an SCSI, an RS-232C port, and an optical audio terminal thatconnect the external connection device 930. Examples of the externalconnection device 930 include a printer, a portable music player, adigital camera, a digital video camera, and an IC recorder. Note thatthe USB stands for a universal serial bus. Meanwhile, the SCSI standsfor a small computer system interface.

The communication unit 926 is a communication device for a connection toa network 932, and examples of the communication unit 926 include awired or wireless LAN, Bluetooth (registered trademark), a WUSBcommunication card, an optical communication router, an ADSL router, anda contact or contactless communication device. The network 932, which isconnected to the communication unit 926, includes a network thatestablishes a wired or wireless connection such as the Internet, a homeLAN, infrared communication, visible light communication, and broadcastor satellite communication. Note that the LAN stands for a local areanetwork. The WUSB then stands for a wireless USB. Meanwhile, the ADSLstands for an asymmetric digital subscriber line.

3. Conclusion

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure as described above,the content distribution system 1 is provided that allows users who areconcurrently watching and listening to content to know the scale of theusers with each, and allows the users to smoothly communicate with theother users.

The above describes an embodiment in which the content server 10 and theuser information management server 11 are separate servers, but thepresent disclosure is not limited to such an example. The same devicemay have the function of outputting content and the function of managinguser information.

The above also describes an embodiment in which the display system 100includes the display control device 200, which controls the contentdisplay device 300 displaying content and the user information outputdevice 400 outputting information, but the present disclosure is notlimited to such an example.

For example, the content display device 300 may have the function of thedisplay control device 200, and the content display device 300 maycontrol the content display device 300 displaying content and the userinformation output device 400 outputting information.

The above describes an example in which the content display device 300,which displays content output from the content server 10, is a displaylocated in a room, but the present disclosure is not limited to such anexample.

Content output from the content server 10 may be radiated and displayedon a wall of the room in which a user who is using the display system100 is in the same way as the appearance of another user is done. Insuch a case, the content display device 300 may be implemented as aprojector or a combination of a display with a projector.

The respective steps in the processing executed by each device describedherein do not necessarily have to be performed chronologically in theorder described in a sequence diagram or a flowchart. For example, therespective steps in the processing executed by each device may beperformed in order different from the order described in the flowcharts,or may be performed in parallel.

It is also possible to fabricate a computer program for causing hardwaresuch as the CPU, ROM, and RAM built in each device to implement the samefunctions as those of the structural elements of each device. It is alsopossible to provide a storage medium having the computer program storedtherein. The respective functional blocks described in the functionalblock diagram are configured with hardware, thereby allowing the seriesof processing to be implemented by the hardware.

The preferred embodiment(s) of the present disclosure has/have beendescribed above with reference to the accompanying drawings, whilst thepresent disclosure is not limited to the above examples. A personskilled in the art may find various alterations and modifications withinthe scope of the appended claims, and it should be understood that theywill naturally come under the technical scope of the present disclosure.

For example, the user information output device 400 displays theappearances D1 and D2 of other users to the right and left of the userU1 in the example illustrated in FIG. 3, but the present disclosure isnot limited to such an example. The user information output device 400may also display the appearances D1 and D2 of other users at the front(in the direction in which the content display device 300 is installed)or the back (in the direction opposite to the direction in which thecontent display device 300 is installed) as viewed from the user U1. Theuser information output device 400 may output the appearances D1 and D2of other users on the wall at the back of the content display device300, or output them on an object other than the wall. Additionally, thepresent technology may also be configured as below.

(1)

-   A display control device including:-   a user information acquisition unit configured to acquire    information on presence of one or more users who are using same    content as output content;-   a user position decision unit configured to decide display positions    of the presence of the users with the information on the presence of    the users acquired by the user information acquisition unit; and-   a display control unit configured to exert control to display the    information on the presence of the users on the basis of the display    positions decided by the user position decision unit in a manner    that the users appear to be using the content together.

(2)

-   The display control device according to (1),-   wherein the display control unit exerts control to display the    information on the presence of the users without preventing the    content from being displayed, and the content.

(3)

-   The display control device according to (2),-   wherein the user position decision unit decides positions at which    the presence of the one or more users is displayed, on the basis of    positions of the users who are using the output content.

(4)

-   The display control device according to any of (1) to (3),-   wherein the display control unit exerts control to display the    presence of the one or more users on the basis of registered setting    information.

(5)

-   The display control device according to (4),-   wherein the display control unit outputs silhouette videos as the    presence of the one or more users.

(6)

-   The display control device according to (4),-   wherein the display control unit outputs avatar images of the one or    more users as the presence of the users.

(7)

-   The display control device according to (4),-   wherein the display control unit outputs shot videos of the one or    more users as the presence of the users.

(8)

-   The display control device according to (4),-   wherein the display control unit outputs letter information    converted from audio information input by the one or more users as    the presence of the users.

(9)

-   The display control device according to (4),-   wherein the display control unit outputs audio information input by    the one or more users as the presence of the users.

(10)

-   The display control device according to (1),-   wherein the display control unit exerts control to display the    presence of the one or more users in accordance with a change in a    situation in the output content.

(11)

-   The display control device according to any of (1) to (10),-   wherein the display control unit selects content of information on a    presence of a first user on the basis of registered setting    information, the content of the information being distributed from    the first user.

(12)

-   The display control device according to (11),-   wherein the display control unit exerts control in a manner that a    shot video of the first user is distributed as the content of the    information on the presence of the first user, the content of the    information being distributed from the first user.

(13)

-   The display control device according to (11),-   wherein the display control unit exerts control in a manner that a    silhouette video of the first user is distributed as the content of    the information on the presence of the first user, the content of    the information being distributed from the first user.

(14)

-   The display control device according to (11),-   wherein the display control unit exerts control in a manner that    letter information input by the first user is distributed as the    content of the information on the presence of the first user, the    content of the information being distributed from the first user.

(15)

-   The display control device according to (11), wherein the display    control unit exerts control in a manner that audio information input    by the first user is distributed as the content of the information    on the presence of the first user, the content of the information    being distributed from the first user.

(16)

-   The display control device according to any of (1) to (15),-   wherein the display control unit exerts control to display the    information on the presence of the users in accordance with changes    in postures of the users using the output content.

(17)

-   A display control method including:-   acquiring information on presence of one or more users who are using    same content as output content;-   deciding display positions of the presence of the users with the    acquired information on the presence of the users; and-   exerting control on the basis of decided display positions to    display the information on the presence of the users in a manner    that the users appear to be using the content together.

(18)

-   A computer program for causing a computer to execute:-   acquiring information on presence of one or more users who are using    same content as output content;-   deciding display positions of the presence of the users with the    acquired information on the presence of the users; and-   exerting control on the basis of decided display positions to    display the information on the presence of the users in a manner    that the users appear to be using the content together.

(19)

-   A display control device including:-   a user information acquisition unit configured to acquire    information on presence of one or more users who are using same    content as output content; and-   a display control unit configured to exert control to display the    information on the presence of the users in a manner that the users    appear to be using the content together and the output content is    not prevented from being displayed.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

-   1 content distribution system-   10 content server-   11 user information management server-   21 video acquisition unit-   22 video processing unit-   23 information distribution unit-   24 setting retention unit-   100, 100 a, 100 b, 100 c display system-   200 display control device-   210 content acquisition unit-   220 user information acquisition unit-   230 user position decision unit-   240 display control unit-   300 content display device-   400 user information output device

What is claimed is:
 1. A control device, comprising: circuitryconfigured to: acquire first information of presence of a plurality ofusers that utilizes same content as output content in virtual space;receive second information of a direction of each user of the pluralityof users in real space, wherein the second information is receivedthrough a head-mounted display associated with a respective user of theplurality of users; determine at least two avatars displayed in avirtual space from the plurality of avatars at the same time based onthe first information, wherein the plurality of avatars corresponds tothe plurality of users; determine directions of at least the two avatarsdisplayed in a virtual space, having the plurality of avatars, based onthe second information; and control a direction of at least one avatarof the plurality of avatars in the virtual space, wherein the directionof the at least one avatar is controlled such that the at least oneavatar appears to view the output content in the virtual space.
 2. Thecontrol device according to claim 1, wherein a first avatar of theplurality of avatars corresponds to a first user of the plurality ofusers, a second avatar of the plurality of avatars corresponds to asecond user of the plurality of users, the circuitry is furtherconfigured to change a display position of the first avatar with respectto a display position of the second avatar based on an actual distancebetween the first user and the second user, and the first user isassociated with the control device.
 3. The control device according toclaim 2, wherein the circuitry is further configured to change displaypositions of the plurality of avatars with respect to the first avatarin the virtual space in order of increasing actual distance ofrespective users of the plurality of users from the first user.
 4. Thecontrol device according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is furtherconfigured to determine the plurality of positions based on thirdinformation associated with communication services.
 5. The controldevice according to claim 4, wherein the communication services comprisesocial networking services (SNS).
 6. The control device according toclaim 5, wherein the circuitry is further configured to determine adisplay position of a first avatar corresponding to a first user of theplurality of users with respect to a second avatar corresponding to asecond user of the plurality of users in the virtual space, based on alevel of intimacy of the first user with the second user estimated froma social graph of the SNS.
 7. The control device according to claim 6,wherein the display position of the first avatar is closer to the secondavatar among the plurality of avatars based on a determination that thefirst user has a deep intimacy with the second user from the socialgraph of the SNS.
 8. The control device according to claim 1, wherein afirst avatar of the plurality of avatars corresponds to a first user ofthe plurality of users, the circuitry is further configured to display afirst set of avatars among the plurality of avatars closer to the firstavatar, based on a determination that a first set of users of theplurality of users corresponding to the first set of avatars activelyleave messages, and the first user is associated with the controldevice.
 9. The control device according to claim 6, wherein thecircuitry is further configured to display a second set of avatars amongthe plurality of avatars away from the first avatar, based on adetermination that a second set of users corresponding to the second setof avatars one of: leaves less than or equal to a threshold amount ofmessages within a determined time, or does not leave messages, and thesecond set of users is different from the first set of users.
 10. Thecontrol device according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is furtherconfigured to acquire, from an external device, position informationassociated with the plurality of users.
 11. The control device accordingto claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to: acquireprivacy settings from an external device, wherein the external deviceregisters the privacy settings in units of groups based on user input;and control display of the plurality of avatars based on the privacysettings.
 12. The control device according to claim 1, wherein thecircuitry is further configured to determine the plurality of positionsof the plurality of avatars based on details of the output contentreceived from a content server.
 13. The control device according toclaim 1, wherein the output content is a game, a first avatar of theplurality of avatars corresponds to a first user of the plurality ofusers, the first user is associated with the control device, thecircuitry is further configured to determine a display position of afirst set of avatars with respect to a second set of avatars of theplurality of avatars in the virtual space, such that the first set ofavatars and the first avatar are displayed on a first side and thesecond set of avatars are displayed on a second side opposite to thefirst side, wherein the first set of avatars corresponds to a first setof users of the plurality of users, the second set of avatarscorresponds to a second set of users of the plurality of users, and thedisplay position is determined based on a determination that the firstset of users are rooting for a same team in the game as the first user,and the second set of users are rooting for an opponent team in thegame.
 14. The control device according to claim 1, wherein the circuitryis further configured to display the plurality of avatars correspondingto the plurality of users based on a change in a situation in the outputcontent.
 15. The control device according to claim 1, wherein thecircuitry is further configured to display the plurality of avatarsbased on detected changes in postures of the plurality of users.
 16. Acontrol method, comprising: in a control device: acquiring firstinformation of presence of a plurality of users that utilizes samecontent as output content; receiving second information of a directionof each user of the plurality of users, wherein the second informationis received through a head-mounted display associated with a respectiveuser of the plurality of users; determining a plurality of positions ofa plurality of avatars displayed in a virtual space, having theplurality of avatars, based on the first information and the secondinformation, wherein the plurality of avatars corresponds to theplurality of users; and controlling a direction of at least one avatarof the plurality of avatars in the virtual space, wherein the directionof the at least one avatar is controlled such that the at least oneavatar appears to view the output content in the virtual space.
 17. Thecontrol method according to claim 16, wherein the plurality of positionsof the plurality of avatars is determined based on details of the outputcontent received from a content server.
 18. The control method accordingto claim 16, wherein the output content is a game, a first avatar of theplurality of avatars corresponds to a first user of the plurality ofusers, the first user is associated with the control device, the controlmethod further comprising determining a display position of a first setof avatars with respect to a second set of avatars of the plurality ofavatars in the virtual space, such that the first set of avatars and thefirst avatar are displayed on a first side and the second set of avatarsare displayed on a second side opposite to the first side, wherein thefirst set of avatars corresponds to a first set of users of theplurality of users, the second set of avatars corresponds to a secondset of users of the plurality of users, and the display position isdetermined based on a determination that the first set of users arerooting for a same team in the game as the first user, and the secondset of users are rooting for an opponent team in the game.
 19. Thecontrol method according to claim 16, further comprising determining adisplay position of a first avatar corresponding to a first user of theplurality of users with respect to a second avatar corresponding to asecond user of the plurality of users in the virtual space, based on alevel of intimacy of the first user with the second user estimated froma social graph of a social networking service (SNS).
 20. Anon-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon,computer-executable instructions, which when executed by a processor ofa control device, cause the processor to execute operations, theoperations comprising: acquiring first information of presence of aplurality of users that utilizes same content as output content;receiving second information of a direction of each user of theplurality of users, wherein the second information is received through ahead-mounted display associated with a respective user of the pluralityof users; determining a plurality of positions of a plurality of avatarsdisplayed in a virtual space based on the first information and thesecond information, wherein the plurality of avatars corresponds to theplurality of users; and controlling a direction of at least one avatarof the plurality of avatars in the virtual space, wherein the directionof the at least one avatar is controlled such that the at least oneavatar appears to view the output content in the virtual space.